Chapter VIII: Part 8

Our new pupil is escorted also into my private office, there to be welcomed by me personally. A large and richly furnished room is this, its walls decorated with photographs of stage stars of universal fame who have been developed by me, and incidentally helped up the ladder of fame. Here is inspiration on every hand.

In her progress through the two floors of the studios our newcomer is absorbing inspiration continually. To enumerate some of the features that make an impression on her receptive mind as she proceeds from room to room:

There is the Call Board in the main office. Now in the theatre the Call Board is an established institution, placed handily to the stage door and inspected daily by all members of the company for such information as the management wishes to impart. Our Call Board serves a similar purpose, and we encourage its daily perusal by all the students. We post thereon press notices that our graduates send us of their own success as reported in the newspapers; also notices of my own producing activities in many cities; the date of the next makeup classes; information of every nature that concerns the studio or its clientele.

There is the Grand Ball Room, the most complete room for its purpose that was ever constructed; its floors clear-maple, its walls full-length mammoth mirrors; its windows large, its ventilation perfect and easily regulated; its double rows of practice bars; its clocks regulated and wound electrically by the Western Union Telegraph Co. every hour, striking to announce the opening and closing of the class instruction.

In this Grand Ball Room, the large Ballet studio, the various classroom and private instruction and rehearsal studios, the gymnasium, and especially in the Demi-Tasse Theatre, which is a corporate part of our studios,--in all these there is accumulated a fund of inspiration that suffices to start the new student with a hopeful and expectant spirit of future accomplishment that is a prime essential to her success.

On the day in which instruction is to start, the pupil returns to the studio and is assigned to a dressing room. Here she finds expert maid service, the maids being on continuous duty during all instruction periods. She is accommodated with a locker, if one is required, with her individual key. She is introduced to the row of modern shower baths, and finds accompanying them every form of up-to-date sanitary appliances and fixtures. She is now "at home," a full-fledged member of the "happy family," and her education in her chosen art is about to commence.

She takes her seat in her first classroom. She finds herself surrounded by a number of other young ladies who, like her, have come here imbued with the laudable ambition to advance their interests in health, beauty, accomplishment of grace, and to fit themselves for an independent and lucrative career, not one of whom is any more advanced than she is. Her inspiration is furthered by this contact with those who are to become her fellow classmates. She takes note of the heavy felt floor-pads beneath her feet, the practice bars along the wall, etc., and is thus assured that every care is being taken here for her security from harm as well as for her comfort and advancement.

Her instructor, she finds, is a professional dancer of wide stage experience, who knows every one of the actual steps he is teaching, for he executes them before her, aiding her eyes by a living example, while he at the same time informs her understanding by telling her what each step and motion is and why it is done. His every word and action is inspirational. She feels now that she is on the highroad to success.

Presently, I enter the room and proceed to organize the class for service, following which I address them on matters concerned with their courses, seeking to instill into each prospective star an ambition to reach out for perfection. And from this hour the inspiration is enhanced with each new day's progress.

As I often say, in one of my class talks, "Inspiration plus perspiration equals one good dancer."

ATMOSPHERE

Atmosphere is something that one feels but cannot see. Atmosphere on the stage is created by means of stage settings, costumes, electrical lighting effects, music, orchestration, and certain stage decorations as properties, all combined into one complete whole.

Every attitude of the body that one assumes in front of an audience on the stage creates a certain dramatic atmosphere. Every gesture, every expression of the face, every move of the body aids to create atmosphere. Characteristic attitudes of the body, characteristic walks, characteristic dancing also creates atmosphere. In order that a solo and an ensemble dance may get over with an audience it must have atmosphere. This atmosphere must be figured out in a scientific way. It requires unusual creative faculties to produce anything original or atmospheric in the way of a solo or ensemble dance for the stage today. No novice without experience can properly create perfect atmosphere, for it requires a thorough knowledge of stage-craft and showmanship, as well as of stage dancing and the technique of the stage, to create an atmosphere in which a solo or ensemble dance, or a song number will live. Without atmosphere the dance becomes all perspiration and no sense. There must be a definite idea behind a dance or underneath it. Everything must be done to embellish the theme or general idea. No idea must be overproduced; just enough must be done in the way of creating atmosphere for a dance to allow it to get over properly. In other words, it must be fully realized and produced properly, in a skillful, artistic way.

The first step in creating atmosphere is the selection of proper music, which will give real inspiration. Without inspiration nothing worthwhile is ever accomplished in the way of stage dancing. Machine-like dancers never get over. One must learn to inject one's own personality into each dance, in order to radiate an atmosphere that will bring success. This important subject of atmosphere is taken up in all our courses, and practically and thoroughly demonstrated and taught. Great care must be exercised that a dance is not overproduced, because if the scenery, costumes, in other words, the background, is allowed to dominate the dance itself, the dance will fail. The pupil must always dominate the costume and the entire stage setting or surroundings in order to get the dance over. Lavish production and accessories of any kind sometimes will interfere with the success of the pupil, or dancer. In other words, a too lavish production will detract from the dance itself and from the one who is performing the dance. So it really takes a person of artistic perception, who has become practical through actual experience, to set a dance properly and surround it as it should be surrounded. Many a novice will have good ideas, perhaps, for atmosphere, but through lack of experience will not be able to get those ideas over on the stage. It takes, therefore, practical stage direction to realize all the possibilities of stage atmosphere in a practical way.

The subject of atmosphere as it relates to the future success of our students, is given proper attention in our courses. I personally present it before the classes in talks from time to time, and demonstrate its meaning and purpose practically, by use of settings, lights and properties on the stage of my own Demi-Tasse theatre, connected with the studios.

The recognition of atmosphere and its need in connection with stage performances is a mental process, an idealization that not every material mind is capable of grasping readily. Probably no pupil would think of enrolling in a course that had atmosphere for its sole subject; yet it is an important matter to all students of the stage, and my plan of introducing it incidentally in my classroom talks, and at the same time showing them by a practical stage demonstration just what it means to them personally, has put it before our pupils in such an interesting and material way that they cannot fail to absorb some knowledge of its benefits.

Every producing stage director must possess an innate or an acquired sense of what we designate as atmosphere, in order to put on a production in a perfect, pleasing and profitable way. My many unqualified stage successes demonstrate my possession of this essential element, which I try to unite with originality and artistic perception, as well as a sure conception of what a fickle public will welcome and approve by its patronage. Hence, my talks on atmosphere are of more than usual value.

DANCING CHILDREN

When you are teaching a child something that suggests play, and that at the same time is beneficial to health and beauty, and is also the real foundation for a future career, you are accomplishing much in an easy and pleasing way.

The activities in our Saturday classes for little tots do all of this. They are called dancing classes, and they become that, but the gradation from romping play into systematic dancing instruction is accomplished practically without consciousness on their part, and thus they learn the rudiments of stage routine almost without knowing it.

I don't know of any bunch of children anywhere that have a happier time than do our littlest pupils in their dainty lessons in the studios. They love every bit of the "work." In the first place, it is adapted to their years, and their instructors are both competent and kindly; and while it is quite a problem to handle a roomful of little folks bent on mischief, and direct their playing along systematized lines, we do it, and before they know it the little feet are stepping in unison to bright music, and gradually there is awakened a pride in perfect performance, and the little playmates become little dancers, each trying his best to equal or excel his or her fellows.

I go on record as saying that the age of eight years is the most favorable for the beginning of a dancing career, for then the young pupil has a mind sufficiently developed to easily comprehend instruction, and a body readily responsive to training. Yet we take children from four to seven years of age for specialized training which prepares them properly in the fundamentals and technique that is so necessary. Occasionally some five-year-old dancing marvel is discovered. Young years are learning years the world over, and right training in foundation work for the future great dancer, as taught in our studios, is so attractive in itself and so suggestive of real "fun" to the little learner, that both child and parents give it their hearty approval.

Dancing teachers in other cities send promising children to New York to study for professional careers; mothers bring the little dancers to New York, anxious to put them on the stage at once. But that is not possible, as a state law prohibits any child under sixteen from appearing before a paid audience to sing or dance, while permitting them to go on for dialogue parts only, if they are past ten years. Producers demand birth certificates and live up to the law. There is in New York City a Gerry Society, which controls the situation and is sharply on the alert.

Here in New York City there is a professional school for stage children, which many attend.

The great majority of the children who come to our studios for dancing instruction are from families who do not want the children to take up stage careers, but wish them to be properly and thoroughly trained in every type of dancing, which incidentally brings out all the natural grace in the body, develops health, poise, charm of manner, personality and symmetrical bodies. Parents naturally desire to see their little ones graceful, accomplished, pleasing in deportment, and able to exhibit a few clever steps in home or amateur entertainments--a parent's proper pride. Others, especially professional stage people, active or retired, enter their young folks in my courses with a view to their ultimately becoming professional stage dancers. They know the emoluments. They know that one daughter on the dancing stage is worth ten in the parlor--financially. They know, too, that old adage "as the twig is bent," and the rest of it, so they start their twigs straight and in fertile soil with faith that in this way their child's future is well and happily provided for. A knowledge of stage dancing is a life insurance policy that pays big dividends during one's lifetime. The dancer is her own--and perhaps her parents'--beneficiary.

We have tots here in the studio at our Saturday classes as young as four. Usually, however, they are five, six, or over. In their primary work we give them all sorts of jolly exercises--walking, running, galloping, and for the tiniest we have "skipping special," "baby work," body building and dancing games.

Our Junior class for children (ages four, five, six and seven) devotes half an hour to very mild physical training and limbering and stretching work on the heavy felt pads, and then there is half an hour of dancing games. The hour thus passes all too quickly with our interested little pupils. As they show proficiency in this work we give them the actual dancing steps which are arranged in effective routines. All of the technique is necessary and beautiful and they love to go through it before the big wall mirrors and see themselves in graceful poses.

Those whose little bodies are especially adapted to it are allowed to take up so-called acrobatic dancing, and it is not surprising that the heels-over-head idea appeals as it does to the juvenile mind. It is action such as they crave, doing "cartwheels," "splits," "back-bends" and many showy "tricks," and they just love it. They are never forced in this work, but really accomplish it themselves under painstaking instructions. Children eight, nine, ten and eleven years of age are assigned to the intermediate classes, beginners or advanced, according to the proficiency or talent that they show me. Those twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen years of age are placed in the Children's Senior Classes, either beginners or advanced. I, personally, grade them and supervise all of their instruction. When they reach the age of sixteen, the girls are put in the adult girls' classes and the boys at sixteen are given private lessons from then on. There are no mixed adult classes.

One thing we are very careful and considerate about is, putting a child on her toes in the ballet work. We find cases where teachers elsewhere have forced this too soon, before the child's feet and ankles were prepared for it. Mothers are sometimes to blame for that, for they are eager to see their little daughters do this pretty work; but we insist upon proper foundation work first, developing the child gradually, and then, when the strength is there, we know we should be able to do the rest not only without danger of permanent injury but with assurance of pleasing and perfect success.

Children thus gradually get instruction in five basic types of dancing, i.e., musical comedy, tap and step, acrobatic, ballet, including classical, character, toe, interpretive, and exhibition dancing. They may develop best along one of these types, and choose to follow that one out to a real professional quality, or they may acquire a good working knowledge of all and thus have a diversity of accomplishments. Then when they reach the age limit of sixteen that permits them legally to enter upon the profit-taking period, they are ready to respond.

I watch the little folks with their instructors every Saturday. They are graduated according to their ages at first, and then graded according to ability, usually at the end of each term (every twelfth or thirteenth week). The youngest group gets one hour's work, all their little bodies can stand, while those between eight and fifteen inclusive get two hours instruction each Saturday. Their mothers, guardians or governesses are in a spacious waiting room.

We are making a lot of children happy, and at the same time laying a foundation for their health and beauty, and perhaps for their financial prosperity. The future great dancers of the next two decades are somewhere in this lot of little ones; which ones it will be is unknown to them or to us, but all are given an equal opportunity, and many will make good.

DANCING HANDS

It is not only the rhythmic movements of the feet and legs that constitute a dancer. Every stage dancer employs as well her face, hands and arms in giving expression to grace, beauty, and the many interpretations of her pantomimic art. Watch the next dancer or group of dancers you see at a show, and it may surprise you to discover how much the hands and arms have to do in adding to the effectiveness of the presentation. It is a compliment to the dancer's artistry that you have been absorbedly pleased by the complete effect, with no thought on your part of analyzing the structure in detail.

But let her put her hands and arms out of the picture and note the disastrous result. You then realize emphatically how much the motions of the entire person, of the limbs and the torso and head, are interdependent to create the grace and rhythm that complete the perfect dance.

The various functions of the hand as detailed are:

1, to define or indicate; 2, to affirm or deny; 3, to mold or detect; 4, to conceal or reveal; 5, to surrender or hold; 6, to accept or reject; 7, to inquire or acquire; 8, to support or protect; 9, to caress or assail.

How these several functions are naturally evolved from the various movements of the hand will be readily understood when one reads the definitions:

1. (a) To define: first finger prominent; hand moves up and down, side to earth; (b) to indicate: first finger prominent; hand points to object to be indicated.

2. (a) To affirm: hand, palm down, makes movement of affirmation up and down; (b) to deny: hand, palm down, makes movement of negation from side to side.

3. (a) To mold: hand makes a movement as if molding a soft substance, as clay; (b) to detect: rub the thumb across the fingers as if feeling a texture held between them. (A movement often made when following a train of thought.)

4. (a) To conceal: bring the palm of the hand toward you, the fingers at the same time gently closing on palm; (b) to reveal: reverse the above movement, exposing palm.

5. (a) To surrender: closed hand opens, palm down, action as if dropping something on the ground; (b) to hold: the hand closes as if to retain something.

6. (a) To accept: fingers close on upturned palm as if receiving something; (b) to reject: fingers unclose from down-turned palm as if throwing something away.

7. (a) To inquire: a tremulous movement of the outstretched fingers as in the blind; palm down; (b) to acquire; hand drawn toward you, fingers curved toward down-turned palm.

8. (a) To support: palm up, making a flat surface as if supporting a weight; (b) to protect: palm down; a movement of fingers as if covering what you protect.

9. (a) To caress: a movement of stroking up and down, or sideways. If sideways, one caresses the animal nature; (b) to assail: palm down; the fingers make a convulsive movement of clutching.

In other words, the hands give expression or emphasis to the thought that it is desired to convey, both in speaking and in the pantomime of the dance and the screen.

Learn, therefore, to use your hands correctly in every dance. There is an idea to be put across in every step from your entrance--your first greeting to your audience--through the measured cadence of your dance steps, to the final exit--your appeal for approval. While you acquire the necessary dance steps to make you a perfect dancer, also learn the hand and arm movements that complement your steps and perfect the picture into its most pleasing possibilities, movements that shall develop the idea of the dance you are portraying and carry it across the footlights.

As soon as you get command of your foot work and master the technical steps of your routine, put your hands and arms into action and develop their connection with your dancing steps so that both shall coordinate as one, and thus your dance will grow into a complete and perfect expression in the easiest way.

Do not neglect your hand-action. It is a positive necessity to successful dancing, and the time to give it attention is while you are learning the rudiments of your art. This work is taught in the Ned Wayburn Modern Americanized Ballet Technique.

DANCING FEET

Good dancers will take good care of their feet--the tools of their trade. They are essential factors in your salary--drawing power. Treat them kindly, and they will thank you and remain your meal ticket for many years.

A hot foot bath followed by a careful pedicuring it seems unnecessary to recommend, for that is a daily habit with all dancers and other ladies.

If your feet are tired and cry aloud for care, prepare a bath for them of common baking soda and warm water, using two tablespoonfuls of soda to a bowl of warm water. This will reduce the swelling of the feet and ease them greatly. Now rub them with a cut lemon. This freshens them and also makes them white and pretty. Allow the lemon juice to dry on them, then apply cold cream and massage them thoroughly. Now wipe off all surplus cream and dust them with talcum powder. Put on soft house shoes and you will feel like a new person.

Massage with olive oil is splendid for tired swollen feet; soaking them in salt water is also good.

Here is a favorite foot balm you can have put up at the drug store: Calomel, ten grains; carbonate of zinc, one dram; oil of eucalyptus, five drops; ointment of rose water, one ounce.

First bathe your feet in cold salt water, then rub in the balm, massaging it well into the feet at night, and powder freely with talcum in the morning.

When the feet swell from long standing or tedious rehearsals, relief can be had by dissolving the following powder in the foot bath: Borax, two ounces; rock salt, two ounces; alum, one ounce.

If your feet are tender, soak them in this bath for ten minutes, and then dry thoroughly: Hot water, five quarts; boric acid, 200 grams; tannin, five grams.

For removing callous spots, soak the feet in hot water for ten or fifteen minutes, then take a piece of pumice stone and rub the callous spot. Do this every night. During the day keep a piece of cotton which has been covered with cold cream on the spot to keep it soft. This will remove any callous in a short time.

Can you think of a dancer with corns? What torture the idea suggests! A limping, crippled dancer would be distressing to gaze upon, and even a minute corn could create this condition. It simply isn't done. For a dancer to tolerate a corn is a confession of carelessness, of personal neglect, and indifference to everything concerning her art.

To prevent corns and most other foot troubles, wear shoes that fit your feet. A too loose shoe makes corns just as quickly as does a tight shoe, for when shoes are too large there is a constant friction, which develops a corn. And see to it also that your stockings fit your feet. A short stocking cramps the foot, and a loose stocking wrinkles and rubs in spots.

The first thing to do for a corn is to relieve it from all pressure. The druggist has an abundance of corn cures, most of which are effective, but if you choose to have one made up to order, here is a sure cure: Salicylic acid, twenty grains; alcohol, one-eighth ounce; flexible collodion, one ounce. Mix and apply to hard surface of corn with a small brush. Do this once or twice daily for three days, then soak the feet in hot water, and a layer of skin will come off. Repeat till corn is gone.

Tight shoes two sizes too small for you do not make your feet look small; in fact, they make the feet look larger, and you haven't freedom to walk or dance. Tight shoes and high-heeled shoes are injurious to the health. The circulation of your whole body is interfered with by wearing them, and cold feet, corns, bunions and many other painful troubles result.

Wear comfortable shoes if you would have freedom in dancing and all other exercises. Whatever shoes you wear, have them comfortable, so you can forget your feet as you step joyously forth to trip a measure in your chosen profession.

DANCING SHOES

Each type of dancing demands its own fashion in footwear, and the novice while learning and rehearsing requires a foot covering differing materially from that to be worn later in the perfected dance on the professional stage.

It is very desirable for the newcomer into the dancing world to acquire knowledge of the correct shoes to be worn to facilitate action, make the learning as easy as possible and keep the feet in perfect condition.

In taking up this subject I shall tell in simple language what is the best and most practical way to dress the feet for the various occasions that arise in dancing. One general rule can be laid down for everyone and all occasions: _Have your shoes fit your feet._ Do not simply "buy a pair of shoes." Ascertain the size and width of shoes that correctly fit you, and ask for your shoes by these specifications. Go to a first-class shoe dealer. Don't buy a shoe merely because it is pretty. Cheap shoes are often the most expensive, and if poorly made may injure the feet.

The above advice applies to every shoe you buy, for house, sports, street or evening wear, as well as for dancing.

For the courses, consider the type of dancing you are taking and dress your feet with shoes suitable for that kind of work.

If your foot is short and fat, buy a short vamp shoe; if your foot is long and narrow, get shoes with a long vamp. Stiff soles being bad for the arches and hard to work in, be sure to get flexible soles.

TOE SHOE WITH PADDED BOX TOE, USED FOR TOE DANCING.

SOFT BALLET SHOE, FOR BALLET, LIMBERING AND STRETCHING AND ACROBATIC LESSONS.

STAGE SHOE WITH EXTRA FLEXIBLE SHANK, USED FOR HIGH KICK, ETC.

CUT-OUT SANDAL, FOR ORIENTAL CHARACTER AND BALLET WORK.

"MARY JANE" TYPE OF SHOE FOR TAP AND STEP DANCING.

LACED TYPE OF SHOE FOR TAP AND STEP DANCING.

A SPLIT CLOG SHOE WITH FIBER HALF SOLE ATTACHED, FOR ADVANCED "TAP" WORK.

TYPE OF SHOE SUGGESTED FOR GIRLS DOING ACROBATIC DANCING.

"GREEK CHARACTER" LOW BALLET SHOE.

RUSSIAN BOOT.

"GREEK CHARACTER" HIGH BALLET SHOE.

TYPE OF MAN'S SHOE SOMETIMES USED FOR ACROBATIC DANCING.]

For the toe dancer there are toe shoes which have a padded box toe. These come in black and white kid and in pink satin. This toe shoe and the regular soft ballet shoe, which is used for ballet technique, should both be a perfectly snug fit, the toes of the foot coming to the very end of the shoe. To do this requires a shoe about two sizes smaller than one's regular street shoes.

Nothing is better for the limbering and stretching foundation technique, as given in the Ned Wayburn courses, than the soft ballet shoe with a quarter-inch lift at the heel.

For acrobatic dancing this type of shoe is also recommended, though many prefer an elk sole cut out sandal, which is also the choice for Oriental ballet dancing. These sandals if too large will bulge at the sides, hence care in their fitting is desirable. The most commonly used shoe for girls doing acrobatic and soft shoe work and one that is excellent for this purpose, is a black kid flat, as it is known, which has a low heel and flexible sole; a sensible, comfortable shoe, such as your feet thank you for.

For tap and step dancing there are several types of shoes, the most common being that known as the "Mary Jane" or juvenile shoe with ankle strap and button or buckle. Another favorite is the laced low shoe, known as the oxford, made for both men and women. The solid clog shoe has a full wood heel, arch and sole, and is used for very advanced clog dancing; not to be worn by beginners, but only the most accomplished professional solo dancers. There is also a low show for "Tap" dancing called the "Split-clog" shoe, used by very advanced pupils only, never by beginners, the half-sole being wood and the heel wood, as well, but most professional dancers prefer what is known as the "Haney" metal plate on the end of the shoe to bring out the "taps," or else a wood-fibre half-sole, but no beginner should be worrying about this. Just remember, that you must never try to learn to dance in a French, Cuban or military heel, as they act as a handicap or "brake." No one can learn with them because they pitch one forward at the wrong angle and impair the health.

There are several attachments, called "jingles," "taps," fiber half soles, and the like, that the expert dancer in this type of work will wish to have on his dancing shoes, and I shall tell you about them here, but it is best to avoid their use while you are learning the dances. After you have mastered your stuff and qualified yourself without them, then have them put on, but not until after you have become a real dancer.

There is a "coin jingle," as it is called, a brass disc about the size of a quarter of a dollar set loosely on the shoe shank, that sounds like two coins striking together at every shake.

The heel jingle is a brass plate set into the shoe near the heel with a loose disc inside it from which extends a plug that as you step falls and hits the floor.

The regulation stage shoe has a very flexible shank and a French heel. It is not a desirable shoe for the student of dancing because of the heel. But for high kicking and similar types of stage dancing after one has acquired a knowledge of the art, it is very satisfactory. Be sure it is comfortable and fits well.

There are other shoes that come naturally into use on the stage for certain types of dancing. There is the low ballet shoe of the Greek type, and a similar one in the high ballet type.

What is known as the Russian boot finds its place in some dances. It is often red, green, or white, to match the costume. Variations of this boot are the Spanish, Gypsy or Hungarian, Cowboy, and others.

There is also a high-laced close fitting boot with a very low heel and soft sole used by men, as a rule, in certain kinds of acrobatic dancing.

When you get into theatrical footwear, there is practically no limit to the possibilities and the variations. Period shoes of all times and nations--Grecian, Roman, Egyptian, etc.,--make the list almost endless.

But really the only dancing shoes you will first concern yourself with are those I have designated as belonging to the learners' work for foundation technique, acrobatic, musical comedy, tap and step, ballet and toe dancing.

In the exhibition dancing the usual ball room shoes are preferred. If the dance is done in character, that will determine the style of the shoes.

I want to sound a warning about French-heeled shoes and high-heeled shoes in general, such as ladies find so fashionable.

A pretty female foot is charming, and one's feet should be dressed in the most becoming manner. But high-heeled shoes do not make a pretty foot. It is impossible to walk gracefully or safely in them, and as for dancing, no one can ever hope to become a dancer who wears such clumsy foot-gear while attempting to learn the art.

The persistent wearing of high-heeled shoes does much to bring about female troubles. It is conducive to ill health, crooked figures, weak ankles, and many internal ills. There are crippled ladies of mature years whom I know, who frankly admit that their condition is due solely to the wearing of high-heeled shoes in their younger years, "to make their feet look pretty."

I want to make my abhorrence of high French heels as strong as I can. You cannot wear them in my studios. I will not permit them, for to wear them indicates that you will never learn to dance, and there is no use in wasting your time in trying. After you have learned, in suitable and proper shoes, how to do your dances, then a shoe with a baby French heel will be permitted for musical comedy dancing, and a shoe with a low common-sense (not necessarily ugly) heel for tap and step dancing.

Fortunately, it is not necessary to wear French-heeled shoes in order to have pretty feet. There are an abundance of attractive shoes on the market that one can choose with assurance of enhancing the beauty of their feet, without this deforming heel. If one uses the words "sensible" or "solid comfort" when speaking of shoes--women's shoes especially--it suggests something sloppy and unattractive, and some young women will have none of it.

There is no intention to advocate the wearing of such shoes, nor any others that are not attractive and good looking. Get becoming shoes for every occasion, by all means, but see to it that they do not have the fatal, high French heels. Before you take a single lesson in the dancing art, dress your feet with proper shoes properly fitted, and thank me for starting you right.

Most large cities have shoe stores with dancing shoe departments, but if you are not able to supply your needs locally, write to the Ned Wayburn Studios for information and it will be forthcoming. But please bear in mind that no shoes are dealt in at the studios and no direct orders for shoes will be considered.

THE QUEST OF BEAUTY

Every person desires health, vigor, grace, poise--and I know of no woman who would object to personal beauty of form and face.

Beauty of face may or may not consist of bewitching features and perfect complexion; many a woman is admired for her good looks while her features may not be considered classically correct. The quality of one's complexion can be improved by exercise and correct diet, and, for stage or social purposes, by the proper makeup.

Beauty of form is a matter of training. The "female form divine" can be improved and kept at the "divine" standard if the possessor wills it, goes at it right and persists in the effort. Bodily health is a factor in all beauty. Get your body healthy, and the rest of the way to beauty is easy.

When I state that stage dancing, as taught in the Ned Wayburn courses, is a developer of health and vigor, a sure road to grace, poise and personal beauty of form and face--in a word, a maker of beautiful and attractive women--I am making a statement of fact that is irrefutable, based on actual and frequent occurrence. You never saw a properly trained dancer who was not in perfect physical condition.

Many ladies learn my dances for the benefits to be derived from the training; young ladies and others not so young; the stouts and the thins, especially, and both profit alike by the health-producing activities they find in our courses. These ladies neither need nor desire a stage career; what they do want is freedom from awkwardness, a bit of pleasant reducing or filling out of hollows, a lasting development of the foundation of beauty. They come from professional, industrial and social circles. An hour a day, except Saturdays and Sundays, for a few weeks, and we have their blessing forevermore.

And while on the subject of beauty, here is another thing:

A girl has a pretty face. On the strength of her beauty she thinks she would make a success as an actress. (Hollywood is overflowing with this type of girl.) She is a good home dancer, and surely dancing on the stage is no different! Perhaps she is right in her estimate of herself, and then again she may be mistaken, for it requires more than mere physical appearance to be a top notcher in anything outside of an exclusively beauty show. Not that any lady's pulchritude is a handicap to a stage career or in any way undesirable. On the contrary, the stage has always welcomed beautiful women, and will continue to do so.

But, here is another girl in the same social set who makes no claim to being a beauty, and does not think of herself as being of a type that lends charm to the stage--and this Cinderella may possess the very qualities that go to make the professional actress and dancer, and yet let the opportunity pass because of her failure to recognize her own value. Her face, with proper makeup under our skilled direction, with the correct treatment of its features, consideration of the stage lighting, and her hair becomingly and appropriately dressed, may far outclass that of the pretty girl who has only aspiration without the necessary qualities to back it.

In other words, beauty of the street and the home is a vastly different thing from beauty on the stage behind the footlights. So do not worry at what your mirror tells you. If you have the other qualities that make for professional success, my courses will instruct you fully as to the way to look your best, and you will be surprised at the latent possibilities for personal beauty that we will discover for you.

WHO'S AFRAID!

I have never known a graduate of our courses to have a bad case of stage fright. This doubtless is attributable to the fact that our pupils are thoroughly grounded in all their stage work before going before a critical audience. They know their steps and routines perfectly, have mastered the physical side of dancing. Their first dancing is done before their class, their instructor and myself. Once a month we have Visitors' Day, for relatives and friends, here in the studio. Our students appear in action before them, and at other times before some neighborhood or church benefit audience. They are properly dressed for their part, and their makeup is right when they go "behind the footlights" for their first professional performance--all of which gives the necessary self-confidence that carries the dancer through the trying ordeal of a first appearance.

STAGE FRIGHT--WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO OVERCOME IT

When you step out upon the stage to do your turn for the first time, you will be very grateful to me for having instilled into your mind the necessity for doing your work over and over till it has become second nature to you. You will thank me, too, for the long series of foundation work, limbering and stretching exercises, that you have gone through, that have kept you from being muscle-bound, given you confidence as well as ability, and left you without fear of not being able to go through with what you have undertaken. This and the knowledge that your costume and makeup are perfect, are of the greatest help in begetting that confidence that overcomes the danger of stage fright, not only on a first but also on all subsequent appearances. Knowing that you look right is half the battle; the other half is the certainty that you know what you are about to do and know it perfectly.

Stage fright is the uncontrollable fear of an audience. It is the result of excessive nervousness. The orator, the actor and the singer experience this dread more often than does the dancer or the instrumental musician. The mouth becomes dry and the throat contracts as the speaker or singer attempts to get his voice across the footlights and out to the audience. One's voice becomes faint and unnatural, weak and uncontrollable. Those who afterwards have become the world's great actors and singers have many of them been overcome with stage fright, and even left the stage on a first appearance. Richard Mansfield was one of these. He fainted from stage fright at his first appearance, yet he afterwards became one of the greatest dramatic stars in the world.

The stage dancer does not have this difficulty with her voice, and if trained right while acquiring her art should never be subjected to the bugaboo of fear. But I am going to lay down some general rules here for the prevention and control of stage fright that will give you confidence and also serve to instruct you how to act if the worst does happen and nervousness gets the best of you. In chorus work, of course, there is little danger. Your mates will carry you along if you miss a step or break your routine, and you'll soon get back all right. In solo work, don't try to look at your audience nor single out any individuals. Don't glue your gaze on the orchestra leader, though he alone is the audience of which you have any right to be at all conscious. He and his baton are your friends and are giving you your tempo. Be aware of them incidentally but not conspicuously, and forget the rest of the folks in front entirely. Forget yourself, forget everything but the music that fills your ears, and let your dancing absorb you completely. Radiate an air of conscious certainty in all you do. Smile. Look happy. Your dance is a good one and you know how to do it Well. You know you do. Pretty soon a ripple of applause starts. It grows and fills that big half-dark place down there before you. That is a tonic. Your stage fright or your fear of it is gone for good. Your audience has accepted you. Now you glow with the happiness that is yours by every right. Applause is to you and your art as the shower and the sun are to the flowers. You live on it. Without it you are a failure.

Suppose you had let your fear master you. Suppose you had quit cold, got cold feet, let yourself be scared out of your wits, and not braved the thing you feared. That would have been a calamity. Your promising career would have ended before it began, after all your expenditure of time and money for lessons. Don't let anything scare you. Go on when your turn comes. Keep going. No matter what happens, don't give up--keep right on till you get your nerve back.

I saw a young singer come out in front of a large audience once, get her cue from the orchestra, and stop dead. She looked out over the crowded auditorium. The leader held his baton suspended in air. "Wait," she said. "I've forgotten it." The audience was dead silent, understanding just what had happened, and very sympathetic. The orchestra leader spoke a single word to her.

"Oh, yes!" she smiled, and her voice swelled out into the song she had so nearly forgotten.

Did she get a hand? I'll say she did, and a couple of encores and a press notice next morning that told all about it, and her career was launched. She had presence of mind and control of herself. Cultivate this by first gaining perfect control of every muscle in your body, by persistent practice of all of your dancing exercises, technique and dance routines; great confidence in your ability will come with this.

I am going to advise you to do as I have always done, and that is, write your routines down and keep them. Each has a name. Ask your instructor, he can tell you the name for every step. Write these routines in sequence, and remember each one. Go through each one every day, no matter how many you collect. The more of them you have the richer you are, for they are valuable. You will be a solo dancer one of these days and with this list you have you can make up your own routines,--take a step from this one and that one and build a new dance for yourself. After a year or two you'll find this easy to do, and it gives you a chance to work in your own personality. In writing down the routines in the first place, while still in the courses, as I have advised, you are helping yourself become fit, so fit and so familiar with your work that you couldn't get stage fright if you wanted to. So in doing this you are really accomplishing two very important things, enlarging your dance vocabulary and making yourself stage-fright proof.

Always go on the stage with the firm conviction that you are going to do well and make a hit. Say to yourself with deep feeling, "I shall do well tonight. I shall have a big success. Everything will go just as I want it to."

This is called auto-suggestion, if you want to know, and it is a self-starter, too, and makes the wheels of success go 'round. Step on it! It is good for every performance.

Be satisfied with small beginnings at first. Exhibit your work in public whenever you can, to gain confidence and experience. Keep your eye on Broadway and work toward that great thoroughfare, of course--all dancers do that--but don't think of making your first appearance there. The farther away from Broadway you make your first appearance the better it will be. Learn the art of costuming yourself for your part, and learn the art of makeup. They come next in importance to the actual dances themselves that you are patiently practicing. When you start out, take with you a knowledge of dress and makeup as well as of dancing, and when you are mistress or master of these three arts and make use of them properly, you can go on the professional stage without dread of being overcome by stage fright. No real artist ever is, although any great artist will be a little bit nervous perhaps before making the first entrance in a new play on an important first night. But the sight of the audience cures that.

THE DANCE AND THE DRAMA

The art of acting as it has been known for thousands of years, derives from the dance, and is a direct evolution from the representation of the emotions as portrayed by the primitive dancers. Joy, anger, love, jealousy, hatred, revenge, triumph and defeat were all interpreted in the Grecian dances of the period antedating the introduction of the speaking actors, who told in words and gestures the stories that had formerly been conveyed through the dance. The victorious warriors returned from battle danced to show how they had fought and destroyed the enemy. The hunter described in a dance how he had slain wild animals. The traveller who had visited what to him were distant lands, told of the strange people he had met by imitating them while he danced. Gradually there was evolved the addition of spoken words supplementing the action, accompanied by appropriate gestures and facial expression. Man had discovered his ability to become for the moment another person, and to interpret certain emotions more vividly than through the medium of the dance. The stage became the opportunity not only for the representation of elemental forces and actions, but also for the principal creations of the imagination.

While the slowly developing drama departed widely from the limitations of its origin, there has, nevertheless, remained an association with the dance that will continue for all time. Especially is this true of the lighter branch of the drama, comedy, and the modern combination known as musical comedy or comic opera. In the popular stage entertainments of the day dancing forms an important feature of a large percentage of all productions that appear in the leading theatres. In many of the classical plays, by great dramatists, that are annually chosen for revivals, the dance appears, and the actor or actress who cannot dance misses many opportunities for profitable engagements. There has always been a kinship between the dance and the legitimate drama, and many prominent stars began their apprenticeship for the stage in the ranks of musical comedy or as vaudeville dancers. With few exceptions it will be found that the men and women who have achieved success on the stage are enthusiastic devotees of dancing, and they will agree that to those intending to make acting their life work a thorough training in the art of the dance is an essential part of their education.

PERSONALITY IN THE DANCE

Every individual possesses something that for lack of a better word is termed "personality;" something elusive and evasive, that cannot easily be defined or explained, but nevertheless remains the essential quality that distinguishes its possessor from every other human being. But while all may have the potentiality for some distinct and special attribute, unfortunately for by far the greater number this is never developed or expressed, and they pass through their uneventful, monotonous existence, without even realizing their capacity for being or doing something outside the routine of their daily occupations.

In this era of the newest of sciences, psychoanalysis, which is attracting the study and investigation of millions, much attention is being given to the explanation of the failure of so many persons to find an outlet for hidden capacities by the well-worn "inferiority complex." The flower of personality, we are told, is born to blush unseen because of an individual's belief that he or she is in some way inferior. Despite all the books that have been written, and the good advice that has been given, urging the development of self-confidence as the starting point for worthy accomplishment, there is still all too prevalent an attitude of timidity and hesitation that says in effect: "I can't be what I would like to be, so what's the use of trying."

This inability or unwillingness to believe in one's self; the disposition to doubt one's powers, to admit defeat before trying, is nowhere more clearly apparent than in the attitude of many persons who possess the physical and mental qualifications that with proper training would bring distinction and profit as exponents of the dance. They admire the successful dancers; they feel that they too are capable of expressing themselves through this art. But,--and here comes the cold water that quenches the spark of their ambition,--they are timid; afraid of failure; they fear that they haven't the persistence and capacity for application that is needed to assure success. Perhaps they do make an attempt, but the work is hard, they just know that they won't be able to stick it out, and after a few futile efforts they give it up, and spend the rest of their lives wondering what they might have accomplished if they had persevered.

To these too easily discouraged persons the message of the dance is: "What others have done you can do. You have the physique, or at least it can be developed. You have the intelligence to accept instruction. You have the patience needed for the continued repetition of movement that makes perfection. You have an individuality that can be expressed in the subtle shadings and delicate touches that growing skill will enable you to show in every graceful movement. You have in you the capacity for artistic and harmonious expression of your personality. Why not develop it?"

I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of _personality_ in a successful stage career. Along with the actual mastering of the dancing steps and the acquisition of health and a beautiful body, comes just as surely the development of one's personal qualities. And because each person has an individuality which is distinctive from that of everyone else, all must select the type of dancing which is best suited to their own personalities. That is why the performance of stars like Evelyn Law, Marilyn Miller, Ann Pennington, Gilda Gray and Fred and Adele Astaire leaves a lasting impression. Every step, every movement is designed to drive home the characteristics of their individuality.

Even more important than the actual dancing steps they do is the manner in which they execute them--the individuality that they express. It is the almost indefinable factor called personality which lifts one out of the ranks of the chorus and makes the solo dancer. In this book I am trying to help you develop your personality, in the same way that I have discovered and developed that quality in so many of today's theatrical stars.

Most emphatically I want to impress upon you that it is not "chorus work" you are learning in my courses. It is professional and individual dancing, that when mastered gives one that certain something that one lacked before, a feeling of having accomplished assurance of success.